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Corporate Smokejumper

The front lines of corporate crisis management are hot and sweaty. The lessons learned are hard won, and the experiences are not for the faint of heart. This book will give you the inside perspective of a veteran practitioner who, throughout his career, developed creative ways for addressing the gut-wrenching challenges that come with leading the response to high-stakes crises.

Gil Meyer knows how to manage crises that have no good solutions. In his roles at DuPont and elsewhere, time and again he took on the challenges of leading the response to a wide range of crises: massive natural disasters, tragic industrial accidents, pandemic and infectious disease threats, expensive product quality problems, and much more. In the pages of this book, he offers you the tools he created to help manage crises as well as tips on how to use them.

2Crisis Management is a JourneyCongratulations on Making It This FarWhat is a Smokejumper?Managing Crises in a Complex Corporate EnvironmentYou Will Likely Survive

3 How Do I Know If a ProbIem Is Really a Crisis?Formal Definition of a “Crisis”Your Company’s Definition of a Crisis A Shorthand DefinitionAn “Issue” or a “Crisis”? The Connection of Stewardship to Issues Management and Crisis ManagementStewardship Pays OnceStewardship Pays TwiceA Clear Window and an Open Door

4 The Fire AlarmHow Much Warning?Ignoring the Fire Alarm

5 Anatomy of a CrisisHow a Crisis EmergesJumping through a Narrow WindowThree Groupings: On-site, Off-site, Business/CorporatePersistent CrisesLetting Go When It’s Over

6 Context of the CrisisCore ValuesPrinciplesPublic Expectations for TransparencyPublic Expectations for Instant Access

12 Setting the Pace for Effective ManagementStructured Meetings for Effective ManagementSetup for Successful Team MeetingsAgenda for the Initial MeetingAgenda for Ongoing Team MeetingsUse of HumorUse of “War Stories”Avoiding the Martyr Syndrome